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Volume III · Page 973
| punishment of German criminals. It is
therefore clear that the intent of the statute on crimes against humanity is to
punish for persecutions and the like, whether in accord with or in violation of
the domestic laws of the country where perpetrated, to wit: Germany. The intent
was to provide that compliance with German law should be no defense. Article
III of C. C. Law 10 clearly demonstrates that acts by Germans against German
nationals may constitute crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of
this Tribunal to punish. That article provides that each occupying authority
within its zone of occupation shall have the right to cause persons suspected
of having committed a crime to be arrested and "(d) shall have the right to
cause all persons so arrested * * * to be brought to trial * * *. Such Tribunal
may, in the case of crimes committed by persons of German citizenship or
nationality against other persons of German citizenship or nationality, or
stateless persons, be a German court, if authorized by the occupying
authorities." As recently asserted by General Telford Taylor before Tribunal IV, in the case of the United States vs. Flick, et al. :* |
"This constitutes an explicit recognition that acts committed by Germans against other Germans are punishable as crimes under Law No. 10, according to the definitions contained therein, since only such crimes may be tried by German courts, in the discretion of the occupying power. If the occupying power fails to authorize German courts to try crimes committed by Germans against other Germans (and in the American Zone of Occupation no such authorization has been given), then these cases are tried only before non-German tribunals, such as these military tribunals." |
| Our jurisdiction to try persons charged with
crimes against humanity is limited in scope, both by definition and
illustration, as appears from C. C. Law 10. It is not the isolated crime by a
private German individual which is condemned, nor is it the isolated crime
perpetrated by the German Reich through its officers against a private
individual. It is significant that the enactment employs the words "against any
civilian population" instead of "against any civilian individual." The
provision is directed against offenses and inhumane acts and persecutions on
political, racial, or religious grounds systematically organized and conducted
by or with the approval of government. The opinion of the first International Military Tribunal in the case against Goering, et al., lends support to our conclusion. That |
* Case 5, Volume VI, this series
